Rank My Dentist uses crowdsourcing and sophisticated GeoIP technology to help you find a dentist in your area.

Thanks to advancements in technology, people worldwide rely on the power of the Internet. From social networking and online shopping to business and research, today we are able to find nearly anything from the comfort of our own homes. In part, we can thank crowdsourcing and GeoIP technology for making this possible.

What is Crowdsourcing?
Crowdsourcing aggregates the ‘collective intelligence’ to complete tasks that a company would otherwise have to outsource or perform itself. A great example of how we use crowdsourcing everyday is via internet shopping. Think of a product that you want to buy. If you’ve never used it before and don’t know anyone using it, you’re likely to rely on online reviews and the final product rating in determining whether or not to purchase it. Different users contributing to a product’s overall rating is an example of crowdsourcing. This form of technology is prevalent across the web (ex: reviews, wikis, and more).

What is GeoIP?
Similarly, GeoIP is another technology widely used across the internet. GeoIP lets a website determine a visitors location so that it can serve location-specific content. This technology favors both sites and their users; for instance, lets use the example of an online store that offers theater tickets. When you visit the site, it automatically displays ticket prices for theaters in your area. This happens because the website detected your location and altered its display according to that. GeoIP is good for the user because they see relevent content and it saves them time. It’s good for the site since the content being presented is more relevant, which makes the end-user more likely to buy it.

Crowdsourcing and GeoIP, Together
So what’s created when you marry crowdsourcing and GeoIP technology, together? The result: RankMyDentist.com.

Rank My DentistRank My Dentist is a website that lets users find dentists in their local area without doing anything apart from visiting the RankMyDentist.com site. The website uses sophisticated Geolocation Technology (GeoIP) to detect user locations, allowing it to display only content relevant to the visitors’ current city and state, as soon as they land on the homepage. The website’s specialized algorithm searches for the top dentists in a user’s area and displays it conveniently on the home page for quick browsing. Rank My Dentist is able to sort the list based on ranking results from crowdsourced dentist rankings and reviews, gathered from users themselves.

Choosing a Dentist? Rank Them Side-by-Side
Users have the ability to rank and review dentists after their dental visit, sharing their experience with other users who are searching for the perfect dental fit. If you think a dentist is recommendable, you can inform everyone who visits his or her profile page. By providing a collection of personal reviews and comments, the site enables users to learn about any dentist and their corresponding practice from real, first-hand accounts and not just from advertisement. Profiles of dentists and respective practices have pictures and videos that allow patients the ability to take a tour of the office and see before and after photos, from within the comfort of their homes. If a patients encounters difficulty deciding between several dentists and practices, the site even offers the ability to compare them side by side – simply by clicking the “compare” button. These adjacent comparisons allow the user to quickly scan for criteria he/she feels are important. The Rank My Dentist website also has a discussion board forum that allows patients to connect with other patients and dentists.

The idea for Rank My Dentist came from the joint collaboration of brothers Daniel and Geoffrey Rubinshtein. Growing up with two dentists as parents, the brothers found themselves surrounded by people who are knowledgeable and passionate about dentistry. The duo recognized early on that there are many individuals in search for quality dentists, but little ways to find them. With their own passion for dentistry (and a knack for technology), the brother’s set out to create Rank My Dentist, so others could find and select a local dentist via drilling down (no pun intended) to the criteria that matters to them most. Learn more about Rank My Dentist by clicking here.